Moral science has two halves. There are the implications of thinking straight about fact and value (ideal theory) and there are the implications of not thinking straight. Ideal theory is the foundation, error theory the daily battle.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Flight 93 update: The hijacker has gained control of the cockpit

Just got back from my trip to Somerset PA, where I confronted the annual meeting of the Flight 93 Memorial Project by continuing to expose the many Islamic and terrorist memorializing features in the chosen memorial design. Several important developments.

One of the local newspapers, the Johnstown Tribune Democrat, finally fact checked my claim that a person facing directly into the the giant central crescent of the Crescent of Embrace design will be facing almost exactly at Mecca. (This central crescent remains completely intact in the Bowl of Embrace redesign, which only added a few trees to the rear left of a person facing into the giant crescent.)

This fact checking is trivially easy to do. I gave reporter Kirk Swauger the address of a Muslim websit, Islam.com, that has a Mecca direction calculator. While I was on the phone with him, Kirk set the calculator to Somerset PA and clicked on "view qibla direction." He placed the resulting Mecca direction graphic over the Crescent of Embrace site-plan PDF (recreated below) and said: "Yup. It points to Mecca":

The green circle, marked with the qibla for Somerset, is from Islam.com. A person standing at the midpoint between the most obtruding tips of the crescent structure and facing into the center of the crescent (red arrow), will be facing almost exactly at Mecca.

I have documented the Tribune Democrat's long resistance to fact checking my cliams, followed by its refusal publish its own fact checking of my claim that the Crescent/Bowl design has 44 inscribed memorial glass blocks emplaced along the flight path (matching the number of passengers, crew, and terrorists). But in the end the Trib-Dem finally came through. Many thanks to Kirk Swauger for checking the orientation of the crescent, and to editor Chip Minemyer for publishing it:

His claims seem to be backed up by coordinates for the direction of qibla from Somerset that can be found on Islam.com. When superimposed over the crescent in the memorial design, the midpoint points over the Arctic Circle, through Europe toward Mecca.

Kirk also quoted me on the meaning of this Mecca oriented crescent:

“A crescent that Muslims face into is called a mihrab. It’s the central feature on which every mosque is built,” said Rawls, who says his book is scheduled to be released next month by World Ahead Publishing.

The members of the Advisory Commission all know about the Islamic and terrorist memorializing features

At the Memorial Project's public meeting, I learned from Flight 93 Advisory Commission member Tim Baird that every member of the Advisory Commission is fully aware that a person facing into the giant crescent is facing almost exactly at Mecca. They don't just know that I have been trying to warn them of this basic fact for a year and a half. They all acknowledge that it is correct, even as the Memorial Project sends out spokesman after spokesman to tell the public that my claims are false and preposterous. Yet there was no outward hint of qualm as the Memorial Project announced, with numerous statements of relief and satisfaction, that the Crescent/Bowl of Embrace design has finally been approved at the highest levels of delegated authority.

They successfully blocked for the hijacker. The biggest hurdle has been cleared. Work on construction drawings begins in August, and on to the building of the memorial. As I put it to several members of the press:

The hijacker just gained control over the cockpit, and it is now the entire country that is on this hijacked airplane. It will now take a majority of the American people to stand up and say "no" to this missile, aiming to stab a terrorist memorial mosque into America's heartland.

After Tim Baird told me that everyone was aware that a person facing into the giant crescent would be facing Mecca, I asked him what else they knew:

Do they know about the separate upper section of Memorial Wall, inscribed with the 9/11 date, centered exactly on the bisector of the giant crescent, putting the date exactly in the position of the star on an Islamic crescent and star flag? Do they know about the 44 memorial glass blocks emplaced along the flight path, equaling the number of passengers, crew, and terrorists?

"It's all in your report, right," said Mr. Baird. "Your report has been passed around at the meetings." He suggested that everyone has looked at it, and that everyone knows what is in it. It seems they are all just making excuses for it, including Mr. Baird.

"I won't be concerned unless you can prove intent," Baird said, "and it is impossible to prove intent." He presented this as an impenetrable redoubt, as it to say, "let's see you get past that defense." I looked at him like he was crazy. Did he not understand what he had just said: that he would not be concerned no matter what was in the design?

Mr. Baird seems to think that if intent cannot be proven, that implies that it is somehow disproven, and we have to assume that things like the Mecca orientation of the crescent are coincidence. That is nonsensical enough, but what is really nonsensical is the idea that if these features are coincidence, that makes them okay, and even makes it okay to deny and suppress the geometric facts of the design.

Again and again I said to Mr. Baird that the public needed to know about the the simple geometric facts I was pointing out, to let people decide for themselves if they were okay with a geometric replica of the central feature of a mosque being used as the central feature of the Flight 93 Memorial, whether this was by coincidence or not. Would the American people be okay with the 9/11 date being placed as the star on an Islamic crescent and star flag, even if it were by coincidence? This is for them to answer, and Baird agreed. But then he would come back to why he didn't think it really mattered, why all of this could be seen simply as less than newsworthy, rather than as a matter of suppression of crucial facts. To Baird it all came back to intent. If I can't prove intent, then according to Mr. Baird, he is not concerned, meaning he does not consider it an issue that needs to be brought out.

Other commission members at the meeting said similar and even stranger things. As one of my compatriots was walking a reverend on the Commission through our graphical displays, the reverend said: "But so what if these are mosque features? If visitors are unaware, what difference does it make?" A lawyer on the Commission told another of my compatriots why he thought that the almost exact Mecca orientation of the giant crescent had to be a coincidence. He claimed that it couldn't have been intended to honor Islam because the in-exactness of the the Mecca-orientation would be "disrespectful" to Islam.

Does this lawyer think he is an expert on what is seen as "disrespectful" in Islam? Any Muslim knows that a Mecca-direction indicator does NOT have to be exact, because traditional Islam follows the example of Muhammad, and every Muslim knows that Muhammad's mosque was not exactly oriented on Mecca. It was originally built to face Jerusalem. Only later in his career did Muhammad order his followers to change their qibla direction (their prayer direction) to face the Kaaba in Mecca. In his own mosque, Muhammad just switched the mihrab from one end of his mosque to the other, which had not been built to face Mecca. Thus when Muslims are looking for a suitable place to pray, they are allowed to face any wall that leaves them facing even very roughly towards Mecca. Practicing Muslims are all well aware of this allowance, because they have to avail themselves of it every day.

UPDATE: We have been able to positively identify this lawyer as Patrick White, Vice President of Families of Flight 93, the same person who told the press that my claims are untrue and "preposterous." In private conversation he acknowledges the almost exact Mecca orientation of the crescent and makes excuses for it. (Can't be intended because that would be disrespectful TO ISLAM!) Then he flat out lies to the press, saying that my claims have been found to be untrue. This is a FAMILY MEMBER, acting as a willing dupe. Absolutely crazy.

Architect Paul Murdoch DOES prove intent, over and over and over again

Tim Baird cannot have read my report too carefully himself, or he would know that Paul Murdoch left numerous proofs of Islamic and terrorist memorializing intent in his crescent design. For one, he exactly repeats the almost-exact Mecca orientation of the giant crescent in a second set of giant crescents that is included in the Crescent/Bowl design: the vast array of crescents of trees that surround the Tower of Voices portion of the memorial. Check out the following sequence. Here is another Mecca direction graphic:

Here is a line across the most obtruding tips of the crescents of trees that surround the Tower of Voices:

A line across the most obtruding tips of the Tower crescents points 1.8 degrees north of Mecca, replicating the almost exact Mecca orientation of the central crescent exactly.

The only difference is that up at the Tower of Voices, it is the crescent tip line that points 1.8 degrees north of Mecca. For the central crescent, it is the perpendicular bisector of the crescent tip line that points 1.8 degrees north of Mecca. To see repitition graphically, just overlay the imagesm, without rotating either:

Red and blue make purple. The two sets of crescents are turned exactly 90 degrees to each other, as precisely as can be determined within the pixel resolution of the graphics.

This near-Mecca orientation is one of the many proofs that architect Paul Murdoch provides that both are intentional. His Islamic and terrorist memorializing features point to each other again and again. His clear purpose is to be able to prove his accomplishment once it is a fait accompli. I cannot say anything about Murdoch's motivation, but I CAN prove intention because HE has proved intention, over and over and over again. You have to read Crescent of Betrayal to see the full horrific magnitude of what Murdoch is attempting to stab into America's heartland, and at every step he makes sure to leave voluminous proofs of intent. He is out for victory, and he will not be denied by the willful blindness of people like Tim Baird.

The only thing that is going to stop Murdoch is a willingness to grasp harsh truths, as exampled by the ordinary heroes of Flight 93, who learned from the ground that America was under attack, and acted as love required. Out of that spirit of truth and love, a proper memorial will rise. Only truth can soar.

Full color half page ad, published in Somerset Daily American, 7/24/2007. Ad is a high resolution map of the Crescent design, showing some of the main Islamic and terrorist memorializing features.

Full color half-page ad, published in the Somerset Daily American, 8/3/2007. Ends with an appeal for the people of Somerset to ask their local newspapers to fact check my explosive claims. If my claims are false, I need to be exposed as a dispicable fraud who should be shamed out of public life. If I am correct, then we are all on Flight 93 and the people damn well need to get their phone call from the ground telling them that planes are flying into buildings. The operators, the information gate-keepers, the editors, are hanging up the phone calls! That is not their job.

I just wanted to thank you for obsessively sticking to your guns and going ahead with the memorial glorifying the Islamic Martyrs in their ongoing fight against the infidels in the House of War.

The passengers did not 'win' and, as you clearly know, do not deserve any memorial. It is the Jihadists who must be memorialized and celebrated; they won by killing all the passengers. They will have their reward from Allah!

Your efforts to celebrate the religion of the Mujahadeen are well noted. You have accepted dawa and this is your first jizya. It is acceptable to Allah that you celebrate the masterful battles of the modern jihad.

You have modeled your memorial on the Cresent of Allah and you have even properly positioned it so it directs one to face the holy site for prayer. It cannot be an accident.

You newspaper people are very smart to acccept the dawa and begin paying the jizya this way. You must all submit to the will of Allah.

Please continue fighting for the celebration of the martyrs and forget those stupid infidels who were taken by Allah's warriors.

You are just like the admirable newscaster on the Simpsons who said, "I, for one, welcome our new … overlords".

Mohammed can blow me!!iF YOUR COUNTRY IS SO GREAT WHY ARE YOU HERE!!this is a disgrace to all americans!!if the hijackers are memorialized on that wall i would not have 1 american name on it..Why not a huge cross coincidently pointing toward mecca?whats the matter with americans? are we going to roll over and let them run our country and tell us what to wear?sharia law?if you are not proud to be an american,GET THE HELL OUT!!or are sympathetic to islam,you should visit them in their country and see how well you are accepted,(make sure you have a chainlink turtle neck)they will welcome you with open arms

You're a damn lunatic. Patriotism gone too far. Leave the memorial alone and just be glad you have one. The U.S. Government is dirty all the way around - deal with it. You're really the one they're laughing at! And now, so am I.

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About Me

Here is a short bio I sent to press people covering the Flight 93 memorial debacle. My training is as an economist. I was in the PhD program in economics at Stanford until my research led me more towards moral theory and constitutional law, at which point I dropped the program and started working on my own. I was writing a book on republicanism (the system of liberty under law) for World Ahead Publishing when I discovered that the Flight 93 memorial was going to be a terrorist memorial mosque. World Ahead agreed to first publish my book about this rehijacking of Flight 93 (Crescent of Betrayal, temporarily available for free download at CrescentOfBetrayal.com). This is not my first venture into journalism. Over the years I have been a writer, opinions editor, and advisor for Stanford’s conservative campus newspaper The Stanford Review, and am currently on the Review’s board of directors.